Evans receives honor of Red Cedar Distinguished Professorship title

Sarah Evans, a resident faculty member at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station and associate professor in Michigan State University’s Department of Integrative Biology, has been named a Red Cedar Distinguished Professor by MSU.

Evans will retain the title of Red Cedar Distinguished Professor for the duration of her career at MSU, and will receive scholarly support for the next three years, provided by the nominating college, MSU’s Vice President for Research and Innovation, and the Provost.

KBS Director Fredric Janzen said of the accolade, “This honorary professorship recognizes Dr. Evans’ phenomenal grantsmanship, mentoring skills, growing leadership, and overall world-class academic acumen in soil microbial ecology and climate change.”

Red Cedar Distinguished Professorship

The Red Cedar Distinguished Professorship is awarded to individuals who combine externally recognized, exemplary scholarly accomplishment or potential, with clear professional relevance to specific areas of MSU scholarly need, disciplinary development, or research or creative emphasis. Consideration also includes the candidate’s teaching innovation and excellence.

In addition to Evans, several other faculty members were awarded the title for 2024:

• Patrick Edger, College of Agriculture and Natural Science, Department of Horticulture
• Gina Leinninger, College of Natural Science, Department of Physiology
• Zhaojian Li, 2024, College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering
• Karin Pfeiffer, 2024, College of Education, Institute for the Study of Youth Sports
• Yadu Pokhrel, 2024, College of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Shin-Han Shiu, 2024, College of Natural Science, Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering, Plant Biology
• Kui Xie, 2024, College of Education, Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education
• Minami Yoda, 2024, College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering
• Elise Zipkin, 2024, College of Natural Science, Integrative Biology, Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program

Sarah Evans

Sarah Evans holds a Ph.D. in ecology from Colorado State University. She was previously an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the University of California-Irvine, and she came to KBS as an assistant professor in 2014 and was promoted to associate professor in 2020.

The Evans Lab studies how microscopic organisms—bacteria, fungi, and archaea—function and respond to their environment. They are interested in how microbes respond to disturbances and stress, and what factors influence their resilience and the resilience of their functions.